I started an email chain with Sheila and Amy and Liz and Sister and Allison. We began Love Ninja-ing together. We made a plan. Amy found some of the teachers from the articles I read. She asked these teachers to make wish lists for their schools and told them Together Rising would fulfill them. We invited the teachers to come to the Mars Hill event as my guests.

Sister and I got to Mars Hill.

Two thousand of us came flooding through the doors.

We talked about life and love and loss and we laughed so hard that one lady in the front almost choked and her friend had to beat her on the back to revive her and I had seven heart attacks.

And then, near the end of out time together—Christine, the minister said:

G: Tell us about your faith. How does Jesus make you brave?

And I looked out at my 2000 beautiful, beloved, divine, mostly white sisters. And I saw Shelia. And I saw Lakia Wilson, the Detroit guidance counselor in the video Sheila had sent to us. Along with Lakia was Sheila Turner and Samantha Hoskin, two social workers from Spain Elementary-Middle, their school in Detroit. These were teachers and counselors striking—holding a Sick Out to bring attention to the deplorable conditions in their school. Lakia, Sheila, and Samantha told me that they’d taught at Spain for decades. They told me with fierce, steady, tender eyes that their students try to learn while getting nosebleeds in their heavy coats because of the cold. No heat, no air conditioning, no water fountains. The pipes are insulated with asbestos. There is black mold in the gym. Students write with pencils that are nubs. There are cockroaches and mice running across the floors of the classrooms. They haven’t had new text books for years. If they want to teach from books—teachers are told to photocopy old ones. They can’t copy old ones because there is no printer ink. They have less and less personal money to buy printer ink and new pencils and books for their students because the staff is just constantly, just constantly taking pay cuts. The teachers at Spain do what they can with nothing, because they love their children. And then folks from the state come to scold them about their students’ test scores.

“I love these kids so much,” Lakia told me. “I’ve stayed for twenty years for the kids, and now I have to leave for the kids.”

And I looked at these three women sitting there in the audience—true heroes in every way to me.

This was the moment I was supposed to tell them that the wish list they made for their school—thousands of dollars worth—would be fulfilled by Together Rising. Because, of course Together Rising is fulfilling Spain’s entire wish list. And Lakia and Sheila and Samantha were supposed to be surprised and happy and say thank you and everyone was supposed to clap and we were supposed to have ourselves a feel-good moment.

But as I sat up on stage and looked at these three warriors I realized: Wait. A feel-good moment is not what is needed here.

An uncomfortable moment is what is needed here.

And I took a deep breath and said:

“One way Jesus makes me to brave is that He keeps sending me to places I don’t know well to talk about hard things. To start uncomfortable conversations. And I think I’m going to do that now. I’m scared and I’d rather keep things easy and personal and funny because I’m sure I’ll mess this up, and I’ll probably lose some of you. But I think this is what I’m here to talk to you about—and I hope you’ll stick with me.

My faith tells me that the kingdom of God comes to Earth when we treat each other like one family. Like Kin. And I think a family can only be healthy if there’s open dialogue about tough things. I think a family can only be healthy if it’s a safe space to ask questions, to screw up and hurt each other and forgive and try again.

And most importantly—I think a family can only be healthy if all its members are equally valued, cherished, validated, seen and loved.

My job is to look hard and listen closely and then to tell stories about what I see and hear. So if I’m doing my job well tonight—I have to tell you—that when I listen to the Flint community, when I look at the Detroit Public school system – the story I see unfolding is one in which entire communities, entire cities filled with our children and sisters and brothers are being forgotten.

Worse than forgotten, in the case of Flint. Actively hurt.

I just can’t for the life of me imagine how those kids in the Detroit Public School system could look around their decrepit, dangerous classrooms and believe that WE BELIEVE they are equal. Worthy of all the good things we demand for the children in our immediate families. If our kids’ classrooms looked like theirs—we’d be up in arms. We need to be up in arms, then. Because OUR kids’ classrooms DO look like this. The Detroit kids ARE our kids. There is no such thing as other people’s children.

We need to focus on serving those FIRST who have been served LAST—or not at all. The last shall be first. That’s the kingdom. That upheaval is counter cultural and so it can make us uncomfortable—but that’s the truth of what Jesus called for. That’s heaven on earth. The Christian faith demands that we find God’s children who are not being valued and stand with them in dangerous, bold ways. To level the playing field. That’s the work.

“If we have no peace, it’s because we’ve forgotten that we belong to each other.” We can tell who we value by looking closely at schools. When there is such a blatant difference between one school system and another just twenty miles away—we can be sure that have lost our way. We have forgotten.

The two most repeated phrases in the Bible are: Fear Not and Remember. I love the word remember. Remember can mean to recall an old idea but it can also mean the opposite of dismember. It can mean to come back together. We are one human family and we need to come back together. We need to remember. Maybe, like most places—Michigan is dismembered and tonight is about remembering.

I’d like to introduce you to three of your sister heroes.

Lakia Wilson. Samantha Hoskin. Sheila Turner.

These are your heroes. These are the ones who are working every day to get our undervalued family members valued. They need you to join them. They’re doing the work and its hard and scary and they can’t and shouldn’t be fighting this fight alone. They need their sisters beside them. And more importantly—you need them. Without them in our lives we are not whole. They are role models and leaders for us. When I go—ask them to help you remember.

I love you Michigan. I miss you already. Thank you for being so brave and so kind.

55 Comments

It’s so critical that we show our kids that there are discrepancies and that the situation is both unjust, and solvable. Teaching them to act on behalf of their fellow mankind (kid-kind in the case of the schools) is a lesson they will never forget. But the giving can’t just happen in a vacuum, where goods are purchased and mom or teacher whisks them away to be distributed. Understanding and empathy comes from shared stories and experiences. We need to take our kids into the different places and allow them to build bridges and understanding hands on. It’s hard… but if we raise this generation to walk the walk and not just talk the talk, they could change the course of history. I believe in these kids. They can do this. We can guide them, and be living examples of LOVE.

Did anyone comment to share The Ellen Show recently highlighted Spain Elementary and with a few key partners (Lowes for one) was able to donate $500,000.00 in addition to other critical supplies? People are helping!!! Yay!

I loathe with all of my heart that what’s happening in Flint and Detroit schools and really schools all over the country doesn’t get more traction in the news and in our living rooms. We can point fingers all we want at the media, at politicians, and at people who don’t look like us or live like us, but the reality is that change doesn’t happen until we scream for it. Until we don’t stop screaming about it. Until we demand and yell and donate and call and write and email and tweet and photograph. The media and the politicians are a reflection of us. Every time you point a finger, remember that those people are elected. Those issues are demanded by your consumption. If you want change, YOU have to do something about it. I worked in the Chester Upland School District for two years. I lost my job after the second year because the governor demanded that the district show solidarity by cutting their budget before he would give them funding. That solidarity came in the form of laying off 40% of its teaching staff. WHAT IS THAT?! WHO DOES THAT?! How is it a show of “good faith” to lay off teachers just to get money to keep schools open? In my time there, we ran out of copy paper in the first six weeks of school. The secretary kept the ink and other school supplies locked in a closet in the office, and we would get a tiny amount here and there maybe at the beginning of the year but really never because that closet was never refilled. It had to last for years. The gym floor buckled from rain leaking into the room, and so half of the gym was unusable. The windows had been broken over the years and replaced with plexiglass which also was broken and cracked. We didn’t have a library in our high school. No library. When my students on student council demanded one, the superintendent tried to tell them that I had refused when she offered the previous year. I laughed (I was in the meeting), and they called out her lie. They knew better. The teachers had worked to buy books to turn one of the classrooms into a library. We went to bag sales and library sales to buy anything we could find for our students to read. One of the teachers even took class time to have students to organize the library and teach them about genres and themes by organizing their own library. We created wish lists on Amazon for others to fulfill to get the books we needed. When our principal found out, she was angry because it made us look bad. After I was laid off, the building sat empty and they put two high schools in one building. One wing for one school, one for another. Two principals in one school. They closed another school and put the middle school students in with the elementary school students – five year olds with 12 and 13 year olds. We had one security guard, sometimes, but mostly the most wonderful janitor did our security and helped us watch our students because we were understaffed. My white board was scratched and wasn’t even a white board – it was wood that had been painted with white board paint. I repainted it myself at one point because it wouldn’t erase or let me write on it anymore. We had an online curriculum but only eight computers in 25 person classes. We were required to use that curriculum regardless. While I worked there, I asked for school supplies and paper for any and all holiday and event gifts. Gift cards to Amazon so I could buy supplies and books myself. In my time there, my students raised money for a poet to come and work with them. One day, when I was out sick, my principal cancelled it without telling me and then used the money to through a picnic. She didn’t tell the poet, and she made me email to tell him that it was cancelled. He tried to demand partial payment, and I had to explain to him that the money was gone. There was no way I could pay him anything. Meanwhile, my favorite part of the day were my students. My students who dealt with someone coming to the school and opening fire as they went out to their busses. The teachers were told to stand outside and block the front door from the shooter; we ushered the students back inside and did just that. Literally put our bodies in front of the doors. Someone opened fired at a birthday party late one Friday night. A colleague heard about the shooting on Friday night over the CB radio. There was no communication from the school to us about our students or if any of ours had been hurt. That Monday morning, our principal brought the staff into the auditorium to tell us none of our students were there and they were all safe. When the students came upstairs (they were held in the cafeteria until the first bell – they weren’t allowed to walk around their own school), we learned otherwise. 300 of our students were there. I cried big tears when I saw them. I hugged as many of them as I could at once. One of my students came up to me and showed me his arm. He had been shot and had wrapped his arm with fabric. He hadn’t been to the hospital at all. Some of them didn’t get medical attention until they came to school and we saw that they had been shot or grazed. We, the teachers, were their counselors because we didn’t have any. We had a school nurse twice a week for half the day. Students spent the day in and out of classrooms crying. One of our girls had been shot in the leg and was hospitalized for months. All of our students knew the shooter and knew the student he was after as part of a gang initiation. He shot and killed his own cousin. When I first started in Quakertown, I remember standing in the parking lot of one of the elementary schools and just staring. I couldn’t believe how nice their school was. When I walked into the copy room for the first time, I stared at the piles and boxes of paper. The boxes of ink. I walked into the library at the high school and just stared. I went back every few months to see my students in Chester. By that time, they were sharing a building with another high school. During that time, another of my students was shot and paralyzed running away from a shooting he was a bystander for. The school wasn’t handicapped accessible so he had to have all of his classes downstairs or just not have some of them at all. Because of the over-crowding, they couldn’t switch all of them to be downstairs. One of my colleagues had 45 students in her math class. Students were sitting on the radiators and the floors because there weren’t enough desks. Two years ago, I attended the funeral of one of my students. Juan was shot and killed. Five times in the chest. Left on his front lawn to bleed to death. I attended with a colleague who had also lost her job years before. We held our students and cried together. His picture still sits behind my desk. His best friend now plays professional basketball. The picture I have is just the two of them smiling at the camera wearing sunglasses inside and laughing because they knew how funny they were. I thought about not writing some of this. I thought about keeping some of it to myself because I know some will read this and think that it’s someone else’s fault. The administration. The irresponsible principal. The gang members. The students. The parents. The poverty. The teachers. The test scores. The skin color. I wasn’t a savior. I wasn’t a good person. I wasn’t doing anything differently than my colleagues then and the teachers and administrators who work there now. I was a human being trying to do the right thing in a place that I knew was ignored and blamed full of children who didn’t deserve it. President Obama even honored one of our teachers because after I left, the district stopped paying the teachers for months because the governor still wouldn’t fund the district. The teachers kept working. They kept going without pay. And that teacher was held up an example at the State of the Union and lauded for her dedication. But why is that acceptable? Why is that expected? We don’t teach because of the ego or the salary or the evaluations. We work for the students. For the children. Because we see them as our own. I call them “my kids” and so do most teachers for a reason. G’s right – they are everyone’s children. They should be. We have to let things get uncomfortable if it means taking care of our children. xx

The governor is taking all the blame and trust me he deserves it but everyone in elected office is to blame for the shape that Michigan is in. Democrats say they have the answers but they have ruled as a majority in Michigan for decades. Neither the republicans or the democrats have shown they truly care about the state. This is also true in just about every other state in the union.

My letter to lots of people here today who already know I’m a pest. Please help if you’re so moved. If we can at least rattle some bushes maybe we can come up with a next step that could actually make a difference. If we don’t ask, we don’t get right?
—————————————————–

Dear X, I know the foundation sent something like a gazillion bottles of water to Flint recently and that is amazing. I am so proud to be a spouse of a Walmart employee for that and many other reasons.

But I’m going to tell you and everyone else I can think to tell the hard truth — it’s not enough. We have to remind the kids in Detroit that they are not alone and help fix their schools. The world is forgetting them and someone needs to say enough. I’ve lived and worked there and know the conditions they are facing in the classroom. No child should get nose bleeds due to a lack of heat in class or have to walk the hallways for PE.

We have to do more – we meaning the Kennys, the
community,our fabulous schools districts, Walmart Corp. and the Walmart foundations. If we could come together as a community to figure out an integrated response it would be a force to behold.

And if I’ve learned one thing from living here a year now, it’s that this is a uniquely gifted, giving and compassionate community. We have the collective resources and heart to truly make a difference.

I just don’t know how to start. So I’m asking your teams and the family foundation, and all of the Walmart executives I know along with all of the other c-level clients I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with the same thing – will you help me give these kids hope? Without it, mothing else will matter in the long run.

I’m going to figure out a way to do it with or without you, but it sure would be great to know someone’s with me. Watch the video if nothing else. Please at least watch the video before you delete this email.

I was born and raised in Michigan, and am appalled at the condition of schools in Detroit and the fiasco in Flint. I am moved to tears. I also see that the current Presidential race is costing BILLIONS of dollars! I think of the good that could be done with that money vs. stroking some politician’s huge ego, and I am angry. It’s also dawning on me that we have the power to use our own money to help – Together Rising and Flash Mobs are great avenues to redirect our cash where it can do the most, without having to wait on politics, politicians, or government entities to mess it up. Glennon – I cannot wait to hear what is up your proverbial sleeve!

It’s so critical that we show our kids that there are discrepancies and that the situation is both unjust, and solvable. Teaching them to act on behalf of their fellow mankind (kid-kind in the case of the schools) is a lesson they will never forget. But the giving can’t just happen in a vacuum, where goods are purchased and mom or teacher whisks them away to be distributed. Understanding and empathy comes from shared stories and experiences. We need to take our kids into the different places and allow them to build bridges and understanding hands on. It’s hard… but if we raise this generation to walk the walk and not just talk the talk, they could change the course of history. I believe in these kids. They can do this. We can guide them, and be living examples of LOVE.

As someone there that night, it was an honor just to be able to give these woman a standing ovation. It wasn’t much, but it was just the smallest, smallest little thing that I felt grateful to be able to do. My downtown Grand Rapids church is wrestling with how to communicate Black Lives Matter, so I was distracted as the event began at how so many of us where white and privileged in ways we don’t even know. So THANK YOU for reminding us even there that we have to get uncomfortable.

Our awareness and our help is so very, very important–but we also need to push for fundamental change in our government and the funding of our schools. The Haves have a LOT, and the HaveNots have…been neglected and forgotten. This is a broken system and we need all the sisters pushing for real, true change. Where you live shouldn’t decide your education, yet it so clearly does. I’m not sure how to topple the giant, but I know it needs toppling…and it needs us all to push together to do it.

What can we do to help? Another Together Rising I hope. Once again, I am in tears unexpectedly while eating my lunch and almost inhaling food from gasping to hold back tears. These kids. I keep hearing about things like this is OUR VERY OWN COUNTRY. What is wrong? I swear I am not voting for anyone because no one in the “house” is doing much for our own. Broad statement, I know, I know. I’m just so outraged about what is ignored while others get “fat”. Our SCHOOLS for God’s sake. Our TEACHERS need better pay, more resources. Thank goodness for Momastery. Sister on.

I hope you’ll reconsider and cast a vote come next fall. None of the candidates are perfect, certainly, but some will without a doubt get us closer to solving the issues you speak to above than others….and they need your voice! I have struggled a lot this election season without a candidate that I am excited to support 100% (and several others whose ideas and rhetoric I feel are downright dangerous) – so I get it. But don’t kid yourself. Your vote matters. For our kids, for these teachers, and for the future of our country.

Terri,
Please reconsider your decision not to vote. One of the reasons that “no one in the house is doing much” is because they CAN get away with doing ONLY for those constituents who do vote. Last fall, when one of the candidates in Kentucky was asked why he was campaigning on a promise to eliminate insurance coverage for the poor and dismantle the state run health care exchange, he replied bluntly, (and I quote) “People on Medicaid don’t vote.” Sadly, he won and the analytics indicated that the people most vulnerable to his horrific promise did not vote in this election. There were plenty of registered voters in his district who could have ensured a different outcome, but when people feel that there is no hope, they stay home instead of voting. Voting is still one of the most important ways to have a voice and to protect our most vulnerable citizens, so it is essential that we use every possible means to protect EVERYONE. I feel your frustration about the folks currently in charge, but it won’t change unless every one of us gets out to vote – to make a true change in leadership. Please reconsider. None of the candidates is perfect but some are definitely much worse than others, and care little about caring for our children.

Things like this can’t be left in the dark anymore! That’s the beauty of social media and how closely we are all connected through it. I hope that Flint Michigan’s pain will break wide open the injustice of our American system. The injustice sitting right inside our hearts, whether we know it or not. And that through their story we can heal and open to the light beginning with fighting for change for their community. The government needs to step in and fix their water problem!! Where do we go from here Glennon? We have to keep fighting for the people in Flint!

I. Can’t. Even. My daughter is being worked up for learning disabilities, surrounded by resources. I feel sorry for myself because I need to spend money on this. I ACTUALLY HAVE THE MONEY TO GET HER WHAT SHE NEEDS. What is wrong with me?!? I’m from MI and your post cut me. Thank you for the reality check and for opening our eyes to this. I cannot believe we allow this to happen to our children. I’m with everyone else. HOW do we help? What can we do? And not just in Detroit and Flint but in Denver where I live? Thank you for not only engaging in these conversations and kingdom work but for being the platform that allows so many others to get involved too. Can’t wait to hear how to mobilize!

I am a Michigan girl, born and bred. I love my home state so much, and it hurts to see these communities being ignored! It’s hard to be so far away, because I think it’s harder to know HOW to help when you don’t live there anymore.

That’s why I’m so glad and thankful for people like you, Glennon, and Sister and Amy and all the other Warriors who do the hard, overwhelming stuff and organize and plan so that all we need to do is show up.

That was such a holy awkward moment, and what you said has lingered on my skin ever since–in a really, really good way. Thank you for telling the truth in Michigan. We needed it. We need it still. Always.

I’d love to help too. Thanks for seeing and hearing, Glennon. Thanks also for seeing challenges that seem overwhelming and too hard and diving right in. Thanks for helping us see that we can dive in too and together, make a difference. xoxo

20 minutes from the affluent Northern Virginia suburbs are DC Public Schools with run-down buildings, no PTAs, and no library books. Recently my family donated 1000 books from our home to a 300 student elementary school in DC that had fewer than 500 books in their collection. When I mentioned on Facebook that we’d be renting a truck and I’d take books from anyone wanting to contribute, my home and garage filled with books. We ended up with more than 2000 books and 30 kid and adult volunteers who spent 8.5 hours one day cleaning the library and bar coding books so that students could have a functional library. Leave your neighborhood and your comfort zone and you’ll find a need to fill. Don’t wait for someone else to do it. You can do it. Other people will join you. Get in the trenches. There’s work for you there.

Betsy, I was scrolling through the comments wondering what can I do to help in my area, and came across your post. I, too, live in northern Virginia, and your story of giving blew me away. Thanks for the inspiration!

I’m waiting to learn how I can once again help, Glennon. I’m so privileged to be able to help.

One of the ways Jesus made me brave was to enable me to go to an inner city rescue mission women’s center to do grief recovery groups with them. I can’t even tell you how blessed I am to have been given this work!

“G”eez… What a blessing you have allowed your self to be in a hurt, broken, disheveled and selfish world! How do you give in to all the bravery you feel? It’s beyond inspiring… It’s maddening. I mean it makes me mad at me for being so stuck all the time! I read what you do and think WOW… She’s got it. She found that inner warrior and she carries on like it’s a wild river meant to be ridden… Not tamed, but ridden. I keep hearing about Flint and Detroit and think “how do we let such horrible things happen? Where are the people in charge?” But what you showed me is that people have to take charge. And you do that… And your perky to boot! Thanks Glennon for being a butt-kicker. For truly loving. For inspiring others to spread love and strength. I often feel called to so many things and yet frozen to act on them. You are an inspiration… Jesus in you is an inspiration. Thanks for all you are doing to make this world a bit better for others. 🙂

I was at the event as well and kept looking around that massive room thinking that if all of us in attendance had donated $10 or brought a gallon of water that night, it would have been amazing. Definitely looking forward to being involved going forward. Spain Elementary-Middle School is sadly only one of many schools in Detroit that need help. And the situation in Flint is devastating.

BUT for those of us in the room who live in Michigan . . . we need to do more. I’ve donated water . . . BUT what about those whose homes are ruined? AND what about the numerous government officials who KNEW there was a problem (even providing bottled water for their workers in Flint while telling the moms of kids in Flint to bathe their children in the same water). We put too many Band-Aids on cancer. We in Michigan (especially those of us on the West side of Michigan) need to be VERY clear to the lawmakers that this is NOT acceptable for ANY of our children–not in Holland/Grandville/Jenison and NOT in Detroit/Flint/Pontiac

I don’t get it … why only three black women? This is Detroit, the children being failed are mostly African-American … and Flint… please help me understand why the majority of the women are white here. Was it the choice of congregation? Are al the teachers in the Detroit school system white women? Really … I am mystified.
And G. – you are just the top of the top in your love and devotion and willingness to jump into the fire. I want us all to be like you!xo

Because the women in the audience belong to her mailing list and knew of the event. It was only held at the church in the way that AA meetings, girl scout, boy scout and other functions are held at churches. Glennon chooses to speak in the house of her God. That church is many, many miles from Detroit and especially Flint. Benton Harbor, MI is very near there though and is also mainly Americans of African decent AND was placed under emergency management. Would have hoped that they would have been included too but this event was not about that, it just turned into a rallying cry for our children. Baby steps always lead to bigger steps! Hope this helps explain.

Yes to what Sherry said. Benton Harbor is about an hour away from Mars Hill; Flint and Detroit are about two and a half hours away. Michigan is the most racially segregated state in the Union. The West side is mostly Republican; the East side is mostly Democrat. We have a Republican Governor and Republican-led State Senate and State House but two Democrat U.S. Senators. This is not just an issue of politics–it is an ideological issue of how monies are disbursed.

Thank you Ruth Elizabeth and Sherry,
Thank helps a lot – just knowing the geography of the event. There was no criticism in my note – I hope that was clear – it was pure curiosity and confusion. But knowing where in relation to Detroit/Flint the event happened – makes sense. I will follow G anywhere and know it all comes from the heart. I also believe in empowerment of other, especially those who are in need – and just felt a little crushed that the people most affected were not present. Thank you for sorting it out!
Love.

Elizabeth,
Just to clarify- Glennon’s event was held at Mars Hill Church, which was founded by Rob Bell. (He’s one of the five authors, along with Glennon, that make up the Compassion Collective.)

I don’t know if the mostly white demographic at Glennon’s event is a reflection of the demographic in Grandville, Michigan, where Mars Hill is located, or if it is a reflection of Glennon’s readers. I’m going to assume it is probably both.

As one commenter has already said, Michigan is, unfortunately, very segregated. The three black women in attendance are all from Detroit and all three are staff members at Spain Elementary-Middle School. None of them had actually heard of Glennon, Together Rising or Momastery, until Amy reached out to them and requested that they assemble a wish-list.

They took a great leap of faith even responding to Amy’s request and taking G up on the invitation to attend the event which is nearly 200 miles west of their home (Mars Hill is about 130 miles west of Flint) seeing as they had no idea what in the world they were walking into!

Glennon does a great job at showing us how to bravely initiate difficult conversations and showing us that, as long as what you say comes from a place of love, compassion and a yearning to understand, good things can come from these uncomfortable moments.

All the Together Rising work we do won’t change the future; it puts a Band Aid on the present. Water is good and necessary. But what do we do next to make sure that there isn’t another Flint? This is the wake up for those of us who are moms: the state government (multiple agencies) continually assured us that it was “being taken care of” and that the water situation had been “addressed” . . . and we voters BELIEVED THEM!

Thank you for coming to Michigan! I was at Mars Hill to hear you and it was wonderful. I am so ashamed of my state and how it let these situations happen! Thank you for bringing more attention to it. It’s so easy to feel helpless… Thanks for helping make a difference.

Beautiful and the video that was released from Spain school opened up the eyes to the nurses who were right across the street at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan. We saw that video and decided that we needed to step up and help love our neighbors. We are going to start helping Spain also. t! Love that we can all work together to help .

How can we help? Can we get our kids involved here in our comfortable suburb of Milwaukee? My children have only ever known clean schools and plentiful books and sharp pencils. But they are a little bit aware—a LITTLE BIT. Because we live so close to the City of Milwaukee and some of their peers landed in our schools because of the Open Enrollment Program. These kids I see, the teenagers walking the halls of our local highschool, are open-minded, courageous, and globally aware in a way that I find delightful and encouraging. I think WE could help. I think our kids would EMBRACE the chance to join in. If you call us, we will answer.

I also read this and thought of the discrepancy between MPS and many suburban (in my kids’ case Wauwatosa) schools, Amanda. This definitely makes me feel uncomfortable which I think means we need to do something to help, too!

There are days when I look around and I wonder where did they go , do they still exist ? Those people who believe that it matters to be honest, to have integrity, to live life with compassion. I read your words Glennon and see your actions and it brings me to tears. Those of us with tender hearts appreciate you so very much. Look forward to hearing of your plan to help the people in Flint!

Glennon, I don’t normally comment here, but I want to know what I / we can do to help? We are so blessed to have our kids in beautiful newly constructed schools, here in wealthy Northern Virginia, I feel the overwhelming urge to DO SOMETHING to help.

We are asking that all around the country and especially here in Bentonville AR. Home to Walmart Corp., the Walmart Corp Foundation and the Walmart Family Foundation. And more importantly, it’s home to the most giving and compassionate community I’ve ever been apart of. I’d love to organize and am thinking if we could somehow organize a three pronged response in whatever citiesacross the country that feel so inclined and combine the powers at all levels (corporate, personal and ISD / PTOs) it could be huge. IF WE DONT GIVE THESE KIDS HOPE THERE WILL BE NO HOPE FOR THEM and the communities in which they live. And I’m not willing to accept that. Not sure how to start but I’ll be praying on it and sitting with it until I figure out my next right step. We’re with you G. Always.

So what’s the resolution? Is there one yet? Are those blessed teachers getting the support they need? And the people in Flint? I feel like the story isn’t over, because it isn’t, but maybe that’s your point, G?

I think the point is to SEE this. SEE these people. This is happening, here, today, in our country. Don’t ignore these people or pretend like this isn’t happening or that they’re different from us. There is no easy resolution, and no, there isn’t a resolution yet. But for years, people have been totally blind to the reality of what’s happening in Michigan, and particularly to what’s happening in Detroit and Flint. There can be no resolution without first acknowledgement, without saying, “we see you, and WE VALUE YOU.”